


Marked

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Series: Obikin Week 2k18 [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bittersweet Ending, Day 2, Heavy Angst, Infinite sadness, M/M, Obi-Wan Has 3 Soul Marks, Obikin Week 2018, Offscreen Past Canonical Whipping, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Two Dead One Alive, Zygerria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 10:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15337824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: On Zygerria, Anakin recognizes the heartbreak Obi-Wan has already passed through... and the heartbreak that is yet to come.





	Marked

**Author's Note:**

> Obikin Week 2k18 Day 2: Soulmates AU/Mythology AU (Used the Soulmates prompt only)

 

It was on Zygerria when Anakin first caught a glimpse of the words across Obi-Wan's back.

His former master knelt on the sand, his tunics gone, his head bowed, hands bound, back already burned and slashed.

But there, between the cuts and bruises, ink-black words stood out stark and cold:

_I hate you!_

The last words Obi-Wan would hear from his soulmate before death claimed one or the other.

Anakin's hand trembled as he held the electrowhip, knowing the Queen expected him to wound Obi-Wan further. He should probably enact some form of plan now, to allow them to escape, but all he could focus on at the moment was the small symbol beside the words.

Anakin's blood ran cold, his body froze, he couldn't quite breathe.

_What have I done? What will I do?_

What could  _ever_ make Anakin say such a thing to  _Obi-Wan?_

A soulmark was signed with a symbol that only its owner could recognize. Anakin looked at it and knew it was  _him,_ Obi-Wan must have peered at it in the mirror and wondered.

But if  _this_ was the case...

Then the words, settled much lower on Anakin's back, like a trampstamp of calligraphy, would be what  _Obi-Wan_ said to him in the end.

_I loved you._

The sigil signing it lay a bit lower, just at the top of Anakin's right ass cheek, and Obi-Wan hadn't seen  _it_ before, though the soulmark itself had been plainly visible every time Anakin peeled out of his shirt.

It was only during the war, with Obi-Wan trying to bind a wound high up Anakin's thigh, that Obi-Wan had encountered the tiny signature symbol.

At the time Anakin hadn't tied  _it_ to Obi-Wan's startled recoil.

He'd thought the wound must have been worse than they'd expected.

 _But it didn't take long to heal. Wasn't near as bad as we'd feared._ _And if he bears my mark, then I bear his._

And Anakin only had one soulmark on his body.

This meant Obi-Wan bore three. Two faded into a painful silver, the beings connected to them dead. One, long so, the other, much more recent.

_He will bring Balance. Train him_ , whispered Qui-Gon's, wrapped around Obi-Wan's bicep like a chain. And then the small, delicate script over his heart that had belonged to Duchess Kryze:  _I have loved you always; I always will._

The eternal love of a dead woman framed Obi-Wan's heart from before, and Anakin's future hatred from behind, heart beating strong and resigned between the two.

Anakin felt as if he might unravel with how  _unfair_ that was for Obi-Wan, as gentle and kind and  _decent_ a person as Anakin knew—

_And who I will love, but only for a time._

Thankfully, Ahsoka, Rex, and R2 took control of the situation, and the instant Obi-Wan's hands were free, he fought for them like a wildcat. Small, scrappy, devastatingly lethal.

When they were away from Zygerria and safe, Anakin stepped to Obi-Wan's side and placed his palm against Obi-Wan's back, where bandages now hid the words.

Obi-Wan's shoulders sagged and his head bowed.

“Why?” Anakin whispered. “Why were you bestowed the gift of being loved by three different people, only to be condemned to suffer heartbreak every time?”

Obi-Wan's head came up, his gaze swift finding Anakin's.

A gentle smile touched Obi-Wan's lips. “The Force has chosen me for suffering. I don't know why.”

Anakin's throat closed up and his face crumpled.

“Do not grieve,” Obi-Wan whispered, turning to face him and reaching up to touch Anakin's cheek with a gentle fingertip. “My love for you will not falter. It will consume my final, dying breath.”

Anakin's eyes blurred with tears. “Why do you think your death is the one that will separate us?”

“Whatever I will have done to make you hate me...” a tear trembled on Obi-Wan's lash. “In a battle between you and me, I would not be the one to survive. Whatever terrible thing I do in the future, you will kill me. I do not think I will hold it against you. It is a whisper that has settled heavily around my heart for some time now.”

Anakin stared at him, feeling his own heart break, and sensing Obi-Wan's had  _already._ He knew months ago, and still he met Anakin with a cheerful smile in the mornings, and still he claimed what moments of light they might be offered in this mad, terrible universe.

Anakin drew the smaller man into his arms, careful of the terrible wounds a short time in slavery had wrought upon Obi-Wan's body.

_To promise I will never hurt him would be an obvious lie, given the circumstances._ But he couldn't stay quiet.

“When it happens, and I say those terrible words—” Anakin's voice failed him, and he had to swallow hard to continue. “Hold on, Obi-Wan. Wherever you go in the Force, I will return to you. The Force cannot separate us again once we are part of it. So once death has claimed you, you hold on, and you wait for me. I'll come back.”

And twenty-four years later...

Anakin Skywalker did.

 


End file.
